John Carpenter Retro: Ep 21 – Cigarette Burns are Not Just For Tyler Durden

Funny thing about the term/concept “cigarette burns”, I always associate it with that scene in Fight Club or Tyler Durden is finding the reel markers in films and splicing scenes of pornography into kids films. I suppose the term cigarette burns doesn’t come up often, and it’s just as good a place to reference it as any given it’s rarity of use in public conversation. A cigarette burn refers to a dot that appears in the upper right corner of a film to let the projectionist know to switch the reel. For our purposes Cigarette Burns refers to a short film directed by John Carpenter for the Masters of Horror TV program that featured hour long installments from some of the greatest in the biz/genre history. Jeff and I have get down and dirty with a movie that is barely an hour long but packs a wallop in both special effects prowess, intrigue of plot and special appearance by Daryl… from the Walking Dead… before he was Daryl of course (you call him Norman Reedus). The Dead Air gang had quite a fun time discussing this and Pro-Life so make sure to tune in to both episodes. We’re nearing the end.

Cigarette Burns reminds me of the Ninth Gate. Substitute a film hunter in place of a book detective and take Roman Polanski’s strange sense of slow, steady pacing out of the mix and you’ve got something demonic/evil inside the pages/frames of an impossible to find piece of media. I love the Ninth Gate which is probably why I love Cigarette Burns. If you haven’t seen either picture I consider both very worth your time. Don’t forget your Udo Kier impression (genre star Kier makes an appearance in a very unique role whose demise involves one of my favorite creative kills of the last ten years).

Remember, there are definitely spoilers. No plot will be spared. Either watch the movie before you listen to the podcast or listen to the podcast and avoid the suffering that might happen if you should actually watch the movie.

Here’s the newest entry in the JC Retro series on our new host. Check out the amazing quality upgrade. You’ll be following all podcasts regularly on this site.

You can check it out on iTunes HERE. Check out the direct link to this episode HERE.

As always, find the wonderful world of podcasts as distributed by The Liberal Dead HERE including this episode. Make sure to subscribe and, if you are so inclined, rate and review the darn thing. Find us on FaceBook HERE

If you should visit us via iTunes make sure you rate the cast and leave a review. We love feedback. If you’ve got a film you’d like to see reviewed or have questions for the crew, let us know. We’re gluttons for your criticism.

We’ve switched over to the new server for which you have links above. That means you’ll have to make the transition with us and subscribe over at the new siteand resubscribe to us on iTunes.